This evidence review synthesises the best available international evidence regarding approaches to behaviour in schools to: (1) Produce an overarching model or framework explaining why school pupils may misbehave (Review 1); (2) Review the effectiveness of classroom-based approaches to behaviour trialled in robust research studies (Review 2); and…

Five years ago, Excelsior Springs (MO) Middle School set a new vision for its future. That marked the beginning of the school's work as a professional learning community (PLC) and has changed its focus and how it measures success. One component of Excelsior Springs's vision is safety: "developing and maintaining a welcoming, orderly, and…

The purpose of this theoretical study was to explore, examine, and analyze the United States (US) Zero Tolerance (ZT) educational policies and practices of the school-to-prison pipeline phenomenon. This study specifically explored the influence of the ZT policy on African American males becoming part of that system. The study was guided by three…

In this manuscript, we examined the literature regarding current disciplinary practices in American schools. Specifically, we discuss in-school suspension, out-of-school suspension, and disciplinary alternative education programs. Moreover, the issue of zero tolerance policies and their relationship with increased use of disciplinary practices is…

Educators and policy makers confront challenging questions of ethics, justice, and equity on a regular basis. Should teachers retain a struggling student if it means she will most certainly drop out? Should an assignment plan favor middle-class families if it means strengthening the school system for all? These everyday dilemmas are both utterly…

This qualitative study analyzed two alternative-to-expulsion programs for high school students. Both programs, the "Learning with Peers Program" and the "Individualized Online Program", offered students an opportunity to earn credits rather than be expelled, but their philosophies presented an educational dichotomy: Should…

This study's purpose is to investigate the expansion of social control efforts in American elementary and secondary school settings, particularly the use of zero-tolerance policies. These policies entail automatic punishments, such as suspensions, expulsions, and referrals to the juvenile and criminal justice systems for a host of school-based…

As the second part of an oral history of education of students with emotional and behavioral disorders, 15 first-generation leaders were asked about the events, policies, and people that have had the most influence on their professional lives and to identify the most positive and most negative influences. Their videotaped responses to these…

The Virginia Student Threat Assessment Guidelines were developed to help multidisciplinary school-based teams use a decision tree to evaluate student threats and take appropriate preventive action. A main goal of this approach is to allow school-based teams to recognize and respond to the developmental complexities of children and adolescents…

The increasing use of zero tolerance discipline policies in the USA has led to a "discipline gap," in which minoritized students receive harsher and more frequent suspensions and expulsions than their peers from dominant cultural and socioeconomic backgrounds. Though disciplinary decisions are made by educators at the school level,…

In urban school districts across the USA there are mandates to implement zero tolerance policies. As this occurs, there is an increasing number of students, specifically students of colour, who are being jettisoned out of the educative process. When school principals have little autonomy regarding how they handle disciplinary infractions within…

The concept of zero tolerance dates back to the mid-1990s when New Jersey was creating laws to address nuisance crimes in communities. The main goal of these neighborhood crime policies was to have zero tolerance for petty crime such as graffiti or littering so as to keep more serious crimes from occurring. Next came the war on drugs. In federal…

As zero tolerance policies and retributive disciplinary codes proliferate among public schools throughout the country, this essay reflects upon one school's nontraditional model of school "discipline" as an alternative to such punitive policies. In particular, this essay explores the fairness committee at Humanities Preparatory Academy…

This paper examines the introduction of Restorative Approaches (RA) in schools in the UK, contextualising this within a discussion of international concerns about school safety, (in)discipline and school violence. It explores questions about the compatibility of RA with zero tolerance and positive/assertive discipline approaches and the use of…

Since 1986, Intercultural Development Research Association (IDRA) has conducted an annual attrition study to track the number and percent of students in Texas who are lost from public secondary school enrollment prior to graduation. The study builds on the series of studies that began when IDRA conducted the first comprehensive study of school…